There currently exists a number of lighting fixtures utilizing LEDs as the light source. While such fixtures provide some beneficial features, they nevertheless suffer from a number of limitations, including but not limited to, uneven light distribution and brightness, high material and component costs, difficult and time-consuming assembly, and cumbersome housing configurations that hamper installation and thus prevent custom applications. An example of a lighting fixture suffering from the above limitations is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,612. There, the fixture comprises a hollow tube 20 with a single, linear array of LEDs 44 extending from a printed circuit board 22, along with a plurality of resistors 38. The bottom 26 of the board 22 has a full length conductive bus 28 and a full length conductive negative bus 30, with each bus 28, 30 located adjacent an opposed outside edge of the board 22. The anode 46 of the LED 44 is in communication with a second lead 42 of one of the resistors 38, and the cathode 48 is in communication with an adjacent LED 44 connected in series. A pair of end caps 50 are hermetically sealed to the tube 20 with adhesive 54 to secure the circuit board 22 within the tube 20, where the end caps 50 have a bore 56 that accept a cord 60. A resilient gasket 58 is disposed between the circuit board 22 and each end cap 50 to further secure the circuit board 22 within the hollow tube 20. An external power supply 64 provides direct current power to the single array of LEDs 44. A U-shaped mounting bracket 66 is utilized to mount the tube 20 for installation. Because the LEDs 44 are linearly arranged in a single plane, the tube 20 produces a limited range of light that is uneven and susceptible to undesirable “hot spots.” This poor lighting performance renders the tube 20 commercially unfeasible.
The present invention seeks to overcome certain of these limitations and other drawbacks of the prior art, and to provide new features not heretofore available. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.